Improvement in wooden pavements



Patented Aug. 29, B.

UNrrED STATES DAVID H. MULFORD, OF SARATOGA SIRFN GS, NEW YORK.

IMPRCVEMENT IN WOODEN PAVEMENTS.

Specication forming part of Letters Patent No. 118,471, dated August 29, 1871.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, DAVID H. MULFORD, of Saratoga Springs, in the county of Saratoga and State of New York, have invented a newand useful Improvement in the Construction of Wooden Pavements; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, andexact description ofthe same, reference being had to the annexed drawing making a part of this specification, in which- Figure 1 is a plan view of the pavement or invention, showin g the board or plank foundation and the position ofthe blocks of wood, and showing the channels or recesses between the rows of blocks to be filled with sand and gravel or other suitable material, and also showing, by the dotted lines D D D, the position of the hooks or clamps by which the blocks are held in their places. Fig. 2 represents the form of the blocks used, with the hook or clamp inserted preparatory to laying the block. Fig. 3 represents the form of the hook or clamp, which is to be made of round or square iron of suitable size.

Similar letters ofreference indicate corresponding parts in the several iigures.

To enable those skilled in the art to fully understand and construct a pavement upon my iniproved plan and invention, I will proceed to describe it and explain the mode of constructing it.

First, having properly graded and prepared the street or road-bed, I place thereon a substructure of boards or plank, as shown in Fig. 1, A, laying the boards or plank parallel with the line of the street. Second, having prepared the blocks of wood, by iirst sawing them in rectan gular form, of about six inches in length and four inches or less in thickness, and cutting or sawing a seat or shoulder in one side, as represented in Fig. 2, B, and also cutting or sawing a rabbet or groove in or at the lower end of the block on the opposite side, as shown by C, I then insert a hook or clamp, Fig. 3, into the face of each block, at a point between the seat or shoulder and the lower end of the block, as shown at D, regulating its exact position so that the lower bend or end of the hook or clamp shall just pass under and into the rabbet or groove C at the bottom of the adjoining or following block, being careful to maintain all the blocks at the same elevation and to have them all set snugly on the foundation boards so as to secure an even surface to the pavement, and thus hooking or clamping each block fast to its fellow and preventing it or any of the blocks from rising or beingl depressed, thereby obtaining and maintaining a uniform and level surface over the entire pavement. Third, the seat or shoulder'cut in each block, as represented at B, being of uniform y size and style, and the blocks being laid in proper order, there will be formed continuous recesses or channels between the rows of blocks entirely across the street, which recesses or channels I then till with concrete, or sand and gravel mixed or made wet with coal-tar or pitch, or with both combined, and pack it in firmly with proper packing-tools and implements, and thus finish my pavement.

I do not claim the use of, or confine myself to, the use of any style or kind of concrete or other iilling to be used in the recess or channels, but use, as occasion demands, any kind or style to which I may be entitled. Neither do I claim the general or specific form of the blocks described; but y Vhat I do cl aim as my invention and improvement, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is as follows:

The clamp or hook shown in Fig. 3, one end of which is inserted in the block of one row and the other end projecting under the block of the adjoining row and thereby supporting the same, as shown and described.

D. H. MULFORD.

Witnesses:

WILLIAM BUsHNELL, REUBEN S. TORREY. 

